1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to support the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the agency's role in a brutal October 19, 2024 raid at La Catedral racetrack in Wilder, Idaho. This operation demonstrates that ICE has become an agency that violates constitutional rights and terrorizes American communities. More than 200 officers in armored trucks and helicopters detained approximately 400 people for four hours, including U.S. citizens and children. Officers armed with flash-bang grenades and drawn guns zip-tied parents and children at gunpoint, denied them food, water, and bathroom access, and subjected them to hours of violent treatment. Juana Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen born in Idaho, was forced to listen to her 3-year-old son plead for food and water for hours while being told she could not hold or comfort him. The raid was ostensibly connected to an investigation into illegal gambling. Five people involved in the alleged gambling were arrested quickly, yet ICE detained all 400 attendees and interrogated each person about their immigration status. No one was released until they verified lawful presence in the United States. This mass detention of U.S. citizens and lawful residents based on their presence at a venue celebrating Mexican culture constitutes racial profiling and violates Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. In November 2024, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the release of 16 people who had been detained, ruling that keeping migrants jailed without bond violated their due process rights. This judicial rebuke underscores the lawlessness of ICE operations. The ACLU has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of three Latino families and others subjected to this treatment. These families, including children who witnessed violence and heard racial slurs, are traumatized for life. ICE cannot be reformed. I urge you to support legislation to abolish this agency and replace it with immigration enforcement that respects constitutional rights and human dignity.